Flexible Minds offers you the latest in contemporary psychological services in a comfortable and
easy-to-access environment.
Highly trained professionals are available for people who are seeking to improve their psychological well-being.
Treatment is available for a range of psychological problems including depression, anxiety, trauma, grief, relationship problems and anger.
Flexible Minds also offers specialised services using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and mindfulness-based approaches to treatment representing cutting-edge therapeutic approaches to assist you in living a full, rich, and meaningful life.
Not only does an active mind have more cortical matter to lose — scientists refer to this as “cognitive reserve,” since the extra tissue serves as a buffer against cell death — but it also seems better able to adjust its activity in response to the insults of age. “The brain operates on a use-it-or-lose-it principle,” says Merzenich. “And the ability to cope with change seems to really be something you either use or lose.”"
Ever wondered why the client needs a professional project manager? He can hire a team to do the job for him without paying you extra bucks but you still get the job of thrashing out ways to achieve a goal. You channel the scarce resources so they lead to one end aim that may actually be a moving target if the client decides on changes in the requirements. Similarly the coders themselves can be in a fix over something; maybe the big question would be ‘authority’ since projects are usually temporary set ups that move in different directions once the project is complete. It is your job to be able to communicate with all stakeholders and come out of a project with no losers. Work on your people skills and understand why they are needed. Soft skills make or break the aura of dependability around you, the very thing that lets the stakeholders trust you to get the job done for or from them.
Self realization comes from self evaluation, if the process is never initiated a person can spend a lifetime in mediocrity and never really get to know himself. Watch for parts of your behavior that is there just to appear professional. Some people insist they cannot label humans, the assertion seems flawed when you consider how we put ourselves in boxes; conforming to notions, or expectations that become the group we wish to be in. Take for instance, your dressing for work. Managers wear suits. Period. Interestingly, while your suit may not have the brains to stitch itself, your professional appearance is important to your boss and for your team to be able to trust your professionalism. Flexibility does not demand that you try to stand out and refuse to wear the suits; it is conformation of the mind to plan-driven project management that means you compromise your flexibility for conformation, thus caging all resourcefulness. Never put your mind on autopilot just because you planned once in the distant past.
Logic would say that if a certain number of individuals did something the way they did, it must have some thought behind it. That logic also dictates that to divert from those norms sets you out as a rebel but have you thought that the hoards of PMs before you could actually have been creating an aura for themselves? Doing things just to look important? To be an agile project manager, the challenge is to evaluate each norm and justify it to your best judge, yourself. Take time to explain your actions to yourself. Does that Gantt chart really help your planning? Is it really necessary for you to flaunt those precise two digit risk factors at the start of work when you know the project is based on variables?
There is nothing more complex than managing a set of resources based on variables alone. For a project manager, there are no actual constants in the whole project situation. How many of us have been through projects that have even had the end goals changed when the client realized original aims were not viable? To stay on top of the game, a project manager has to realize he can never afford to stop learning since the only valuable experience is one you learn from, the rest is what you dragged through without any positives except the paycheck. Stay in active discussions with other PMs; you can even use their experiences to guide your own if you are smart. For the flexible mind, keep studying the complex cause and effect relationships because an otherwise simple 1+2 just never equals 3 in our field.
Flexibility in communication skills is a great asset for a PM. Realize that using technical jargon in front of a non technical person will result in nothing but wasted time with neither of you any wiser. The same applies for languages. You can only gain when you exercise your mind so the suggestion is to learn to speak the language your listener understands, especially if you are going to be in constant contact with the clients or offshore teams. While it has many benefits, including getting a perspective in the conversation you could never get otherwise, it is not always possible to learn the language of your clients. You can, however, strive to get off your platform and communicate with your audience in a language they understand or at least adapt and be comprehensible.
Be a project shrink; be your own therapist. Self reflection is one of the best forms of mental exercise. And seriously, just to get to understand your own ideas, try writing. Use blogging as a sounding board to build your network and interact with other project managers who can share ideas and views with you. Unlike the spoken word which at times gets frivolous, written word has to be a lot clearer so the reader gets your purpose of writing. Suddenly your charismatic personality does not matter, the gestures cannot be seen; your words represent you and your opinions. This makes for a thorough exercise, and there will be times when you will realize a particular point felt complicated only in conversing, while writing you will be able to rationalize much better.
Meditate. No, I am not repeating myself. There is the relaxed reflective meditation and then there is the real process of meditation. Find your empty corner and at least start your breathing exercises. Once you are ready, you will know when to up the ante on the exercises. This approach to empty your mind and set it free from the constant chatter inside it will actually give you a new perspective to your job. And a freer mind that’s not being held back by needless bias always lead to better judgment and flexibility.
Inspirations go a long way in life. Untamed ambition can be your worst enemy, but without ambition mastered by morals, there can be meaninglessness to life that sinks people like nothing else. Always look for things that inspire you, some sports provide great inspiration. While it can be anything that makes you want to be the best at what you can be, inspirations in your field can help more since you can directly relate with them. You Tube, for instance, can give you access to many inspirational speeches or interviews with people who have achieved goals they aimed for
